GDT: Pens 2024 Trade Deadline Thread: Jake Shake Talk here

[Big Friggin Dummy]

If asked last Summer, I would as well.

But again, he's the only player in the entire organization working hard (not even Sid standard hard) to improve himself each year. He wasn't stupid and knew our goal scoring was going down this year and that's what he focused on for the first half of the year. Meanwhile it's straight decline for the likes of everyone else in their 30's.
- When is the last time Geno actually drove play or tilted a game? 3 years ago?
- When is the last time Rust actually had a game changing impact? Playoffs 6 years ago?
- Letang? Has he worked one second on, idk, game film and not being an absolute mouth breather in critical moments?

On and on.

So yeah, you take historic performer and historic gamesman, have him miss two straight years (during his best-buddies prime...so he trains with a guy who gets to talk nothing but playoffs and excitement, and another guy on an old team himself talking about historic seasons), and think that he's just outright stubborn? He's got to know both his value and his compete level are still top notch....and he controls where he goes. Idk folks...there's a LOT of Tom Brady'ness going on here and that org turned on him just as the Pens are with Sid. More loyal to a coach and front office.

Yeah he'll "always be a Penguin wear the sweater etc" - but he'll never sniff the playoffs again in his career so long as we have Sullivan and Sullivan-esque rosters.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I think Sid really wants to win and he's probably upset knowing it's never gonna happen here. But I just think he's too much of a creature of fanatical habit to ever leave, and the Yzerman idol thing with his one team career being a big thing for Sid... I'll believe it when I see it kinda thing. But again, wouldn't fault him one iota. This team's killed any chance he's had for half a decade and is irrevocably f***ed for probably a decade from now.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Who’s the random Pen we hated that pops off once he’s out of here? Smith is the obvious victim of Sullivan/2024 Pens but I’m going Ruh

 

[molon labe]

this idea Sid is out training the world and Malkin and Letang and the rest of the team (pro athletes) don’t work hard is asinine. Letang is a known workout warrior and Malkin is from Russia where they skate 100x a day. All things considered he’s aged incredibly well. Rust is 32 scoring at a 30 goal 70 point pace for $5M.

They’re just old and not as good anymore you jabronis.

Nobody said they don't work out.

Hitting the gym and working on, you know, other aspects of the game are exclusive of one another. Letang is still 110% instinct based. Is what it is.

Not going to change your mind on these guys but there has been almost zero evolution in the games of Rust, Geno, Letang, hell even Guentzel. They're declining without adding much. Letang the least so only because of his physical prowess and that's why he got his crazy ass deal. Rust looks like he quit hockey after he signed that contract and has been scraping to get back to impact levels but the most you'll see from him is the horse-blinder play where he skates into the defender for a last minute cut-in on the goalie.

Who’s the random Pen we hated that pops off once he’s out of here? Smith is the obvious victim of Sullivan/2024 Pens but I’m going Ruh

Ruh has a career shooting percentage of like, .000000000001% with the amount that guy freaking shoots (literally every time he touches the puck, open guy down low be damned)....so if he goes to the Oilers I could absolutely see him getting a couple goals.

 

[pistolpete11]

Who’s the random Pen we hated that pops off once he’s out of here? Smith is the obvious victim of Sullivan/2024 Pens but I’m going Ruh

Carter is going to score the GWG in G7 of the Cup Final.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Who’s the random Pen we hated that pops off once he’s out of here? Smith is the obvious victim of Sullivan/2024 Pens but I’m going Ruh

I don't hate Smith. I forget Smith exists like 99% of the time.

This place seems to hate EK well enough, and I imagine getting away from Mike and Todd the geniuses probably sees him killing it offensively and in transition again, whenever he's dealt.

 

[SEALBound]

Most forwards off the board and there's still 6-7 teams interested lol

Nothing we don't already know. Still plenty of possible returns that make sense. The three way with Van and Bos makes the most sense to me from an "all parties considered" perspective.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Still feel like Nashville could be a dark horse here. They've been playing great and the clock is ticking on their core. Trotz has also seen the damage that Guentzel can do first hand.

 

[molon labe]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I think Sid really wants to win and he's probably upset knowing it's never gonna happen here. But I just think he's too much of a creature of fanatical habit to ever leave, and the Yzerman idol thing with his one team career being a big thing for Sid... I'll believe it when I see it kinda thing. But again, wouldn't fault him one iota. This team's killed any chance he's had for half a decade and is irrevocably f***ed for probably a decade from now.

It's hard to imagine a second Summer of no playoffs, the end of the road in sight, and your two training partners are literally at the top of their conferences. Like, one is your age and his organization knows how to stay in the mix. The other is much younger and reminds you of yourself.

That can't be easy. They are clearly going to talk about their seasons past and season upcoming at some point...and what is Sid gonna say? He loves it here SO much that he can't wait to evolve the influx of Jansen Harkins? No way does he want to compete anymore or increase his playoff totals when he was promised that he gets to babysit Sullivan boys?

 

[IcedCapp]

Best case scenario here is we trade him to Carolina for a decent package, they lose in the first round, and then he re-signs here, right?

Edit: and from this Carolina learns to never try to improve their team again.

 

[The GM]

Nobody said they don't work out.

Hitting the gym and working on, you know, other aspects of the game are exclusive of one another. Letang is still 110% instinct based. Is what it is.

Not going to change your mind on these guys but there has been almost zero evolution in the games of Rust, Geno, Letang, hell even Guentzel. They're declining without adding much. Letang the least so only because of his physical prowess and that's why he got his crazy ass deal. Rust looks like he quit hockey after he signed that contract and has been scraping to get back to impact levels but the most you'll see from him is the horse-blinder play where he skates into the defender for a last minute cut-in on the goalie.



Ruh has a career shooting percentage of like, .000000000001% with the amount that guy freaking shoots (literally every time he touches the puck, open guy down low be damned)....so if he goes to the Oilers I could absolutely see him getting a couple goals.

I beg to differ on rust. He’s one of the hardest working players in the league when he’s out for an empty net chance. But that’s only when the other teammates do the heavy lifting in the d zone and get the puck out for a foot race to the empty net

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Nobody said they don't work out.

Hitting the gym and working on, you know, other aspects of the game are exclusive of one another. Letang is still 110% instinct based. Is what it is.

Not going to change your mind on these guys but there has been almost zero evolution in the games of Rust, Geno, Letang, hell even Guentzel. They're declining without adding much. Letang the least so only because of his physical prowess and that's why he got his crazy ass deal. Rust looks like he quit hockey after he signed that contract and has been scraping to get back to impact levels but the most you'll see from him is the horse-blinder play where he skates into the defender for a last minute cut-in on the goalie.



Ruh has a career shooting percentage of like, .000000000001% with the amount that guy freaking shoots (literally every time he touches the puck, open guy down low be damned)....so if he goes to the Oilers I could absolutely see him getting a couple goals.

I think this misses the mark. I don’t even like the guy but Rust has completely changed his game as his speed/physical tools have lapsed. He’s scored at a better rate in some of last few NHL seasons than he ever did in college even. Came in as a energy guy.

Malkin and Letang have aged insanely well. Like historically well. I think criticizing any ability of theirs to adapt really misses the mark.

Biggest failure of this team was on management. tying up cap in trash and doubling down on 30 year olds to be your core. Instead of dicking around with JJ, Pearson, Gudbranson, Oleksiak and so on, they should have been trying to bring in superstars so that 87/58/71 could slide into support roles as they aged. It’s a shame we’re still riding Sid like he’s 23 instead of giving him cushy minutes and a ton of PP time.

Abject failure this org was never in on a single one of Tkachuk, Eichel, Stone, EK (first time) and so on. I know they didn’t have the pieces but the reason they didn’t was JR chasing his tail on Zucker, Kap, Brassard and blowing cap on fringe guys.

 

[SomeDude]

I think if you had told me in October that we'd be sellers at the deadline but Sullivan was still the coach I'd have said you were crazy.

I’d have believed it. Then again, my opinion of the state of this franchise has plummeted in the last 2 years. The current situation makes the “country club” late stage Mario years look like a military boot camp in comparison.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It's hard to imagine a second Summer of no playoffs, the end of the road in sight, and your two training partners are literally at the top of their conferences. Like, one is your age and his organization knows how to stay in the mix. The other is much younger and reminds you of yourself.

That can't be easy. They are clearly going to talk about their seasons past and season upcoming at some point...and what is Sid gonna say? He loves it here SO much that he can't wait to evolve the influx of Jansen Harkins? No way does he want to compete anymore or increase his playoff totals when he was promised that he gets to babysit Sullivan boys?

Which is all why I wouldn't hold it against him for wanting out. But again, I'll believe it when I see it happen. /shrug

 

[SomeDude]

I hope Dubas does nothing just to see how it is spun to be a big brain move by the wonder boy GM by our media faithful.

 

[ikyan]

I'm still hoping for a grab bag of Carolina prospects.

Morrow and Koivunen for Guentzel retained would have me a happy camper.

 

[IcedCapp]

I would guess that every team who “needs the price to ‘soften’” feel that way because the Pens don’t want picks

 

[molon labe]

I think this misses the mark. I don’t even like the guy but Rust has completely changed his game as his speed/physical tools have lapsed. He’s scored at a better rate in some of last few NHL seasons than he ever did in college even. Came in as a energy guy.

Malkin and Letang have aged insanely well. Like historically well. I think criticizing any ability of theirs to adapt really misses the mark.

Biggest failure of this team was on management. tying up cap in trash and doubling down on 30 year olds to be your core. Instead of dicking around with JJ, Pearson, Gudbranson, Oleksiak and so on, they should have been trying to bring in superstars so that 87/58/71 could slide into support roles as they aged. It’s a shame we’re still riding Sid like he’s 23 instead of giving him cushy minutes and a ton of PP time.

Abject failure this org was never in on a single one of Tkachuk, Eichel, Stone, EK (first time) and so on. I know they didn’t have the pieces but the reason they didn’t was JR chasing his tail on Zucker, Kap, Brassard and blowing cap on fringe guys.

I agree with all of this but Rust is nearly 32 years old. He's been the same player in the NHL the entire time he's been here... he's honestly the last of the Rakell/Smith/Rust trio of 5M wingers I'd deal to be honest. I know he can play lines 1-4 even today where the other two are utterly worthless to this club. But I can't make a case that his game has changed at all since coming here. The only time it did was last season when he took his foot off the gas and looked horrible. The guy has to play blue collar hockey to be effective. But imagine if he added, idk, 2-3 more moves coming down the ice? You get so much ice time with Sid and your only move is to crash the crease. Two and two together - perhaps you should work on a one timer or extra move or two on a defender knowing you'll get those chances?

Yes, Geno still has his shot, vision, and hands. He HAS gotten a smidge better on faceoffs. But everything else he does and the way he plays the game is the same as it was when he was 22 but it doesn't work because he doesn't have the hop for it. Maybe work on making yourself available after a chip in versus skating to the freaking puck and drawing your guy there? Every time he enters the zone it's a damn orgy on the puck because he only knows 1 thing - bully his way to the puck then spin out of it (which he can't do much often anymore) or throw an ill-timed pass to the open ice and hope his teammate gets it. Nowadays it's an auto-brakeaway for the other club. Again - he should have been moved to wing 3 years ago and by now a seasoned pro at it.

Could go on and on - but yes, this teams number 1 fault by FAR has been looking at Sid/Geno/Letang and calling them 'the core' - and by turn saying you build around that core. Stupid takes and stupid logic. They should be regarded as the legends/old timers on the team. Geno should be flanking JT miller at this point. Letang should have some monster stay at home guy to clear the crease for him. Sid should have a young Kunitz or two hopping around for him. Instead the team is constructed to 'appease Sid by going all in' (utter gaslighting) while having dogshit rosters with HORRIBLE use of money. What in the same F is our thinking behind the bottom 9 forward group? This isn't 2015 and they continue to act like it is. For sure.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I can't wait for us to get a bunch of young players, only for Sullivan to run them out of Pittsburgh after a year

 

[SomeDude]

If it’s Carolina, I hope we get Mukhanov as a “throw in” prospect.

 

[pistolpete11]

Could go on and on - but yes, this teams number 1 fault by FAR has been looking at Sid/Geno/Letang and calling them 'the core' - and by turn saying you build around that core. Stupid takes and stupid logic. They should be regarded as the legends/old timers on the team. Geno should be flanking JT miller at this point. Letang should have some monster stay at home guy to clear the crease for him. Sid should have a young Kunitz or two hopping around for him. Instead the team is constructed to 'appease Sid by going all in' (utter gaslighting) while having dogshit rosters with HORRIBLE use of money. What in the same F is our thinking behind the bottom 9 forward group? This isn't 2015 and they continue to act like it is. For sure.

The #1 fault has been turning the keys of the franchise over to Sullivan.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Please, Carolina, step up and pay the asking price so this shit doesn't drag on for another 30 hours.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Jake def getting extended at this point

 

[Gurglesons]

Please, Carolina, step up and pay the asking price so this shit doesn't drag on for another 30 hours.

Dubas is overplaying his hand 100%.

 

[molon labe]

The #1 fault has been turning the keys of the franchise over to Sullivan.

We're saying the same thing.

Me saying 'building around the core' with a bunch of nobodies and horrible use of money IS Sullivan brand. The dude is the worst GM I've ever seen. He's gotten everything he's wanted for six years now and done nothing with it. We have the same cap as everyone else but we choose to put all our eggs in to surrounding our elite old timers with complete side-car role players and grinders. Stupid game plan that everyone who signed off on should be chastised and/or fired.

Though, we should all know that isn't changing unless Keefe becomes available. Dubas only knows how to hire 1 coach and he's clearly got a vendetta at this point to have 4 10M roster players and Keefe to show his former masters that he could do it all along.

 

[IcedCapp]

Dubas is overplaying his hand 100%.

Man don’t turn into a trade board doofus